Coinbase has opened a regulated route for U.S. institutions to trade global crypto derivatives through its futures commission merchant.

Coinbase said on May 29 that Coinbase Financial Markets now gives eligible U.S. clients access to crypto derivatives markets, starting with Deribit options. The company described the unit as the first U.S.-regulated futures commission merchant to offer access to global crypto derivatives, including perpetual futures and options.

The launch follows action from Commodity Futures Trading Commission staff involving products listed on Deribit FZE, Coinbase’s affiliated foreign board of trade. Coinbase said institutional clients can begin onboarding immediately through Coinbase Financial Markets, while retail access is planned for a later stage.

Institutions get regulated access to Deribit options

Coinbase said the first phase will focus on Deribit options, with crypto perpetual futures, more collateral options, and other derivatives products expected later. The company framed the rollout as a way for U.S. institutions to reach markets that have long been active offshore.

According to Coinbase, crypto derivatives account for about 80% of global crypto trading volume. The company also cited Deribit data showing more than $31 billion in bitcoin options open interest as of May 28.

For trading firms, Coinbase said the access could support hedging, volatility trading, and BTC-linked basis strategies. The company added that U.S. clients previously lacked a regulated route into a market it described as having an annual trading volume of multi-trillions of dollars.

CFTC staff action supports the structure

The regulatory path rests on CFTC staff positions tied to foreign futures and margin arrangements. In its letter, CFTC staff said certain crypto asset perpetual contracts described in the request may qualify as foreign futures under Commission Regulation 30.1.

Staff also issued a no-action position covering certain transfers of customer-owned digital commodities and payment stablecoins to a foreign broker-affiliate for margin purposes. The letter said the position remains subject to the listed conditions.

Coinbase closed its $2.9 billion acquisition of Deribit in August 2025, following its announcement earlier that year. The exchange said Deribit handled more than $185 billion in trading volume in July 2025 and held about $60 billion in open interest on its platform at the time.

Crypto-market reports have also linked Deribit to major Bitcoin options expiries, in which large positions can shape short-term trading around strike prices and expiry dates.

Coinbase builds institutional rails beyond derivatives

The derivatives rollout also aligns with Coinbase’s recent institutional push into fiat funding. As previously covered by crypto.news, Coinbase expanded its partnership with Standard Chartered to give institutional clients greater currency access across global markets.

The integration added funding rails for AUD, SGD, CAD, and CHF. It also added GSIB-backed settlement for EUR and GBP.

Coinbase said the service is available through Coinbase Prime and Coinbase Exchange. The company said the arrangement helps institutions manage capital across spot, derivatives, and financing strategies without forcing every position to be denominated in a single base currency.

The crypto markets are finally heating up again, and large institutional investors are lying low and waiting for their next big move, as Bitcoin has broken above $80,000 per coin following its intraday peak of $81,660. Other alternative currencies are seeing significant institutional activity, despite the market’s overall cautious attitude. There are currently four leading crypto assets that are worth watching. Some have been around for a while and have institutional backing, while others have recently emerged into play due to their upside potential.

Little Pepe is easily the smallest-risk, highest-reward pick on this list, but it’s also the one attracting speculative whale attention right now.

Priced at just $0.0022 during presale stage 13, the project has already raised more than $28.1 million, with the current round reportedly 98.44% filled at the time of writing. That kind of momentum is hard to ignore in the meme coin sector.

Unlike many meme projects, Little Pepe is pushing a bigger narrative. According to the team, they are developing a Layer-2 blockchain for meme coins, which will be fast, cost-efficient, and anti-sniper bot. The platform will also introduce a dedicated launchpad for memes on its blockchain.

It will be very beneficial for wealthy investors because the platform has already undergone the CertiK audit, been listed on CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko, and has plans to list on centralized exchanges. Rumors have started emerging about getting listed on one of the most famous cryptocurrency exchange platforms after the listing.

Another factor creating buzz is the involvement of anonymous crypto experts reportedly connected to some of the market’s top-performing meme projects.

Bitcoin (BTC)

The Bitcoin currency continues to hold the pole position, as even though there has been consolidation, the rich continue buying heavily into BTC. Bitcoin’s price is $81,700, with the total market value above $1.6 trillion. The exchange reserves are expected to be at multi-year lows, while ETF flows remain strong. However, Bitcoin is also likely to rally, despite its technical chart looking similar to what happened during past rallies. Nonetheless, BTC won’t surge 50 times as before.

Ethereum (ETH)

ETH is currently trading around $2,330, signaling a bullish move to break above $3,000 soon.

ETH current performance | Source: CoinMarketCap

Some experts predict that Ethereum may outpace Bitcoin this year if ETF flows remain positive. Network improvements, along with increased tokenized asset trading, are fueling bullish sentiment. The reason Ethereum is attractive to high-net-worth individuals at present lies in its combination of stability and growth potential. It continues to lead the way in smart contract applications, and for most funds, the current level is an accumulation area.

Solana (SOL)

SOL recently traded near $97, with trading volume and network activity picking up again.

Many investors still remember Solana’s explosive rallies from previous cycles, and some traders believe another strong run could happen if overall market sentiment improves. Compared to Ethereum, it still looks relatively undervalued to some institutional buyers.

Conclusion

For traders hunting asymmetric upside ahead of the next meme coin wave, LILPEPE is becoming one of the most talked-about presales right now.

For more information, visit Little Pepe’s official website, Telegram Community, Twitter/X Page, and the $777K Giveaway Page.

For more information about Little Pepe (LILPEPE) visit the links below:

Website: https://littlepepe.com

Whitepaper: https://littlepepe.com/whitepaper.pdf

Telegram: https://t.me/littlepepetoken

Twitter/X: https://x.com/littlepepetoken

$777k Giveaway: https://littlepepe.com/777k-giveaway/

Disclaimer: This is a Press Release provided by a third party who is responsible for the content. Please conduct your own research before taking any action based on the content.

Texas has moved closer to holding Bitcoin directly after naming a new advisory committee to guide the state’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.

The Texas Comptroller’s office said Thursday that Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock will serve on the five-member Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Advisory Committee, which will advise the state on custody, valuation, and management of Bitcoin holdings.

The committee was created under Senate Bill 21, which the 89th Texas Legislature passed and signed into law on June 22, 2025. The law gave the Comptroller’s office authority to administer the reserve and set up a framework for state-level Bitcoin exposure.

Hancock said in a statement that lawmakers gave his office a clear duty to manage the reserve with transparency, security, and strong financial controls. He added that the committee brings the expertise needed to carry out that work carefully and in the interest of Texas taxpayers.

Texas names Bitcoin reserve advisers

Alongside Hancock, the panel includes Laurie Dotter, chair of the Investment Advisory Board for the Employees’ Retirement System of Texas. According to the Comptroller’s office, Dotter brings more than 35 years of experience in investment oversight and governance.

Jamie McAvity, founder and CEO of Cormint Data Systems, also joined the committee. Cormint operates a 130-megawatt Bitcoin mining facility in Fort Stockton, which the company has described as one of the most efficient mining sites in the country.

The committee also includes Carla Reyes, a Southern Methodist University law professor who serves on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Innovation Advisory Committee. Reyes has also testified before Congress on blockchain policy.

Gary A. Vecchiarelli, CPA, president and CFO of CleanSpark, completes the panel. The Comptroller’s office cited his work building CleanSpark’s Bitcoin trading desk, yield strategies, and digital asset governance systems.

State seeks Crypto Custodian

At the same time, the Comptroller’s office issued a request for proposals for a qualified crypto custodian to support the reserve. The RFP covers secure custody, liquidity services, and asset management.

According to the office, the reserve currently has about $10 million of exposure through BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust. The RFP outlines a plan to transition from ETF-based exposure to direct Bitcoin holdings within 60 days of contract signing.

The custodian search places Texas among the most active U.S. states pursuing a formal Bitcoin reserve structure. The state’s approach centers on direct custody, financial controls, and support for additional digital assets over time, according to the RFP.

Federal Reserve plan is still developing

Meanwhile, the federal government has continued work on its own Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March 6, 2025, directing the Treasury Department to create a reserve using Bitcoin already held through criminal and civil forfeitures.

The order barred the Treasury from selling those holdings. The U.S. government’s forfeiture-linked holdings were estimated at 328,372 BTC, making it the largest known state holder of Bitcoin.

In January 2026, Patrick Witt, executive director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, said legal issues still needed to be resolved before the Federal Reserve could be completed. By May 2026, Witt said a major legal breakthrough had been reached and that an announcement was close.

On Capitol Hill, Senator Cynthia Lummis and Representative Nick Begich have backed the American Reserves Modernization Act. The bill would allow the Treasury to buy up to 200,000 BTC each year for five years.

Under the proposal, the Treasury would hold the Bitcoin for at least 20 years. If Congress passes the bill, the first open-market Treasury Bitcoin purchase is projected for the fourth quarter of 2026.

Pi Network’s PI token is consolidating near $0.14 after an April rally, with thin liquidity and IOU listings keeping volatility elevated as traders eye key support and resistance levels.

Pi Network’s PI is changing hands at about $0.144 with a 24 hour low of roughly $0.142 and a high near $0.146 on Bybit’s IOU market as of May 29, 2026, underscoring how the token has slipped into a narrow intraday band after its spring bounce.

That range translates into intraday volatility of roughly 3 percent peak to trough, with Bybit data showing the 24 hour high at approximately $0.1461 and the low around $0.1418, while 24 hour trading volumes stand in the low single digit millions of dollars across major IOU venues.

On OKX, a separate PI tracking instrument shows a live price quoted in fractions of a cent and a 24 hour gain of more than 40 percent with a market capitalization near $84,000, a reminder that liquidity and pricing methodology remain fragmented across exchanges listing Pi related derivatives.

Pi Network trades flat in tight 24 hour band

The current consolidation comes a month after PI briefly outperformed the wider market, with the token climbing more than 5 percent on April 29 and roughly 11 percent over the week to trade near $0.60 as investors positioned ahead of the project’s high profile appearance at Consensus 2026 in Miami, as reported by crypto.news.

Context from April rally and 2025 crash

That move made Pi one of the top performers among major altcoins on the day, even as bitcoin slipped about 1.6 percent and large caps like ether closed lower, suggesting event driven speculation rather than broad based capital rotation into the project.

However, Pi’s longer term chart remains brutal: the token crashed by more than 90 percent in 2025 from an all time high around $3.00, grinding down to the $0.20 area by December 18 as weak investor confidence, post mainnet selling and exchange migration flows weighed on price, according to an annual forecast from FXStreet.

Technical work published by crypto.news in May 2025 flagged oversold conditions as Pi approached support around $0.69 to $0.70, highlighting a potential bullish reversal if the token could reclaim the $0.74 point of control and build toward $0.85 and $0.99, levels that now sit far above spot, framing the scale of the subsequent decline.

A later crypto.news analysis noted that Pi’s rebound from a “maximum value” zone hinged on clearing dynamic resistance near $0.65 and then $0.80, with the value area low acting as a line in the sand for bulls, a structure that still informs current resistance ladders even as today’s IOU quotes hover in the mid teens of a dollar.

Fundamentally, Pi continues to trade in a kind of limbo: real world utility and compliance progress remain the core bullish catalysts cited by supporters, while skeptics point to fragmented IOU markets, opaque circulating supply, and the project’s long delay in delivering fully unlocked, freely transferable mainnet tokens as reasons to fade aggressive price targets.

With the token sitting more than 90 percent below peak and 24 hour action compressed into a tight band around $0.14, the next decisive move will likely depend on whether Pi’s developers can convert headline appearances and its large KYC verified user base into tangible on chain demand that shows up in both spot volumes and a sustained break above the nearest resistance cluster.

The U.S. Treasury has said it has seized nearly $1 billion in cryptocurrency linked to Iran as Washington expands its financial campaign against Tehran.

The U.S. Treasury has said it has seized nearly $1 billion in cryptocurrency linked to Iran as Washington expands its financial campaign against Tehran.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made the disclosure at the Reagan National Economic Forum, where he said U.S. authorities were tracking funds tied to Iran’s overseas networks. Bessent said the campaign targets financial channels that Tehran is trying to use outside the traditional banking system.

Treasury expands pressure on Iran’s crypto networks

According to Bessent, the latest crypto seizures are part of a broader Treasury effort to cut off revenue streams linked to Iran’s government and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The campaign has included sanctions, frozen bank accounts, and actions against blockchain wallets linked to Iranian networks.

Key Takeaways

• ServiceNow (NOW) climbed approximately 14% Friday, spearheading a significant software sector upswing
• Investor excitement built around new AI capabilities announced at Knowledge 2026, featuring the Otto assistant
• Bank of America resumed coverage with an optimistic perspective, positioning NOW as an agentic AI frontrunner
• The company’s board authorized a $4.2 billion stock repurchase program, boosting investor confidence
• The positive momentum rippled through software equities, lifting Snowflake, Oracle, Atlassian, and cybersecurity stocks

Shares of ServiceNow (NOW) skyrocketed approximately 14% during Friday’s trading session, delivering one of the year’s most impressive single-day performances in the software industry. By midday, the stock maintained its gains while the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) climbed 5% in parallel.

ServiceNow, Inc., NOW

This surge follows several weeks of downward pressure on software equities. Prior to Friday’s rally, NOW shares had declined nearly 29% year-to-date, reflecting market concerns about artificial intelligence potentially cannibalizing traditional enterprise software revenues.

The market sentiment appears to be reversing course.

During the Knowledge 2026 event, ServiceNow introduced cutting-edge generative AI capabilities, highlighted by the Otto assistant, while announcing strategic collaborations with Experian and Boomi. These revelations demonstrated how the company is integrating AI directly into its platform architecture instead of positioning it as a standalone offering.

At the Jefferies Software, Internet and AI conference this week, ServiceNow’s COO and Chief Product Officer Amit Zavery tackled the AI disruption narrative head-on.

“We don’t want to have a non-AI and AI mindset anymore inside the company,” Zavery explained. “Our customers don’t want it. They want to be able to adopt AI as part of the same products they buy from us.”

Zavery further articulated why enterprise system-of-record platforms like ServiceNow maintain critical importance in an AI-dominated landscape.

“For IT managers and IT system owners, I already have all the other visibility. I don’t want to go to a third-party system for only AI-related stuff,” he noted.

Board Approves $4.2 Billion Repurchase; BofA Returns with Positive View

The stock benefited from two supplementary drivers. ServiceNow’s board greenlit a $4.2 billion share repurchase initiative, demonstrating management’s conviction in the company’s current price levels.

Separately, Bank of America resumed its ServiceNow coverage with an upbeat assessment, characterizing the firm as a pioneer in the developing agentic AI landscape. Such institutional endorsement typically influences hesitant investors to reconsider their positions.

Combined, these developments amplified what was already shaping up to be an exceptional trading day for the equity.

Broader Software Sector Experiences Widespread Gains

ServiceNow’s performance didn’t occur in isolation. Snowflake (SNOW), fresh off Thursday’s 36% surge to record highs following quarterly results, tacked on another 4.5% Friday.

Oracle (ORCL) vaulted 8% higher, Atlassian (TEAM) rocketed 11%, GitLab (GTLB) advanced 7.5%, and monday.com (MNDY) rose 6%. Microsoft (MSFT) inched up 3.7% in anticipation of next week’s Build 2026 conference, where fresh AI model announcements are anticipated.

Cybersecurity equities participated in the rally as well. Rubrik (RBRK) surged nearly 9%, CrowdStrike (CRWD) climbed 7.5%, Palo Alto Networks (PANW) appreciated 6.3%, and Fortinet (FTNT) gained 4%.

Company leadership also established a long-range revenue objective of $30 billion by 2030, providing investors with enhanced visibility into the company’s AI-driven growth trajectory.